I would invest 100% of my savings in stocks. Keep minimum cash and no bonds or other investments. I would do: * 85% in diversified ETFs under a “buy and hold” (never sell) approach. * 15% in diversified ETFs under a “market timing” approach. Follow my indicators and buy and sell for mid-term (4 to 12 months) market moves. The 85% “buy and hold” ETFs would be a mixture of: * High dividend ETFs like VYM, SDY, DGRO, TDIC, etc. (60% of the 85%). Dividends would be re-invested into the ETF. * Broad market ETFs like SPY (S&P 500) and QQQ (Nasdaq) (40% of the 85%). The 15% “market timing” ETFs would be leveraged ETFs like QLD (2X the NASDAQ) and SSO (2X the S&P 500). * Use stop losses to limit trading losses. * Learn and improve over time.
Don Southworth
11 months ago
Rent my house in California and not sell it.
John Wood
11 months ago
Rent in a neighborhood that I wanted to live in before I could afford to buy there, rather than buy in a lesser neighborhood just to own a home (whose value when I sold it ended up being about the same as just renting it).
tshort
11 months ago
I made all the classic mistakes, and also didn’t have access to after tax 401k/IRA. If I did it over again:
max out ROTH 401k and/or ROTH IRA contributions.
manage IRA contributions so that I could do a mega backdoor ROTH conversion at some point.
Except for maxing out the employee stock purchase plan (which I did and it worked very well), don’t buy individual stocks (I lost 50% in the Dot Bomb collapse) – invest only in index funds and manage the entire portfolio (a Lazy Portfolio at that) to a single asset allocation, set to 80/20 (back when I was in my 30s-40s).
Lehman Brown
11 months ago
I would have invested in low-cost index funds, instead of purchasing GE stock through employer. I would have paid taxes on contributions to 401K. I would fully maximize 401k Roth opportunities! I would have been a little more aggressive in stock allocation versus bonds.
Tony Brady
11 months ago
When I was a younger worker just learning about investing, I bought stocks instead of index funds. I would have also paid greater attention to asset location between my pre-tax and taxable accounts.
Kurkyboy
1 year ago
I would have taken my own advice and not traded my accounts as much
Jeff Bond
1 year ago
I would confront my now ex-wife about the dramatic change in her spending habits and lack of discipline.
Juan Fourneau
1 year ago
Listened to my gut more when I was in my mid to late twenties. I finally began to make a good living and rather than live frugally I bought a house and a new car. If I had lived like a student for even 5 years while I was still single I could have made some more substantial investments.
Michael1
1 year ago
Never carry credit card debt. Haven’t in many years, but didn’t figure this out early enough.
Pat Roach
1 year ago
Instead of starting drawing social security at age 62, I would have waited until I turned 70.
If you live long enough you be about the same as if you waited.
Nicholas Clements
1 year ago
I am a conservative investor but I do wish that in my younger years that my portfolio was more heavily weighted towards stocks.
R Quinn
1 year ago
I would have been a bit more aggressive with investments. And I would have used Roth accounts as soon as they were available.
Sonja Haggert
1 year ago
I would save more and learn about stock market investing earlier. We spent too much on mutual fund fees and taxes when we could have been buying stocks.
I would invest 100% of my savings in stocks.
Keep minimum cash and no bonds or other investments.
I would do:
* 85% in diversified ETFs under a “buy and hold” (never sell) approach.
* 15% in diversified ETFs under a “market timing” approach.
Follow my indicators and buy and sell for mid-term (4 to 12 months) market moves.
The 85% “buy and hold” ETFs would be a mixture of:
* High dividend ETFs like VYM, SDY, DGRO, TDIC, etc. (60% of the 85%).
Dividends would be re-invested into the ETF.
* Broad market ETFs like SPY (S&P 500) and QQQ (Nasdaq) (40% of the 85%).
The 15% “market timing” ETFs would be leveraged ETFs like QLD (2X the NASDAQ) and SSO (2X the S&P 500).
* Use stop losses to limit trading losses.
* Learn and improve over time.
Rent my house in California and not sell it.
Rent in a neighborhood that I wanted to live in before I could afford to buy there, rather than buy in a lesser neighborhood just to own a home (whose value when I sold it ended up being about the same as just renting it).
I made all the classic mistakes, and also didn’t have access to after tax 401k/IRA. If I did it over again:
I would have invested in low-cost index funds, instead of purchasing GE stock through employer. I would have paid taxes on contributions to 401K. I would fully maximize 401k Roth opportunities! I would have been a little more aggressive in stock allocation versus bonds.
When I was a younger worker just learning about investing, I bought stocks instead of index funds. I would have also paid greater attention to asset location between my pre-tax and taxable accounts.
I would have taken my own advice and not traded my accounts as much
I would confront my now ex-wife about the dramatic change in her spending habits and lack of discipline.
Listened to my gut more when I was in my mid to late twenties. I finally began to make a good living and rather than live frugally I bought a house and a new car. If I had lived like a student for even 5 years while I was still single I could have made some more substantial investments.
Never carry credit card debt. Haven’t in many years, but didn’t figure this out early enough.
Instead of starting drawing social security at age 62, I would have waited until I turned 70.
If you live long enough you be about the same as if you waited.
I am a conservative investor but I do wish that in my younger years that my portfolio was more heavily weighted towards stocks.
I would have been a bit more aggressive with investments. And I would have used Roth accounts as soon as they were available.
I would save more and learn about stock market investing earlier. We spent too much on mutual fund fees and taxes when we could have been buying stocks.